Whitehall Officer Pleads Innocent To Selling Drugs

A suspended Whitehall Township police officer pleaded not guilty yesterday to possession and distribution of cocaine in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

Richard Klock, 37, of the Cementon section of Whitehall, was arraigned before U.S. District Justice Richard Powers.

The date of a trial will be set by U.S. District Judge Edward Cahn, who will hear the case, possibly in July.

Klock, who is free on $10,000 recognizance bail, was indicted in May by a federal grand jury on two counts of distributing cocaine and six counts of unlawful possession between 1987 and 1989.

Klock's attorney, Michael Moyer of Allentown, said he had not yet received the more than 1,000 documents related to the case from prosecuting U.S. Attorney Ewald Zittlau.

"We still don't really know what the evidence is against us," Moyer said.

Klock said the documents are being copied and he expects to get them shortly.

If convicted on the charges, Klock faces a maximum penalty of 46 years in prison and a minimum of three years supervised release.

Powers yesterday asked Klock to contact the court once a week by phone and to surrender his gun and his passport.

Klock said his .22-caliber handgun had already been surrendered to the FBI in Allentown. The FBI had been investigating Klock in connection with James T. Yesik for nearly 11 months before the indictment.

Zittlau has said that the testimony of Yesik, the convicted leader of a Florida-to-Slatedale drug ring, will be used in efforts to convict Klock on drug charges.

Sentencing of Yesik of Slatedale; Linda Deegan of Kunkletown; and Jeffrey Bachman of Slatedale has been delayed to allow them to testify against Klock, Zittlau said.